Malcolm Young

Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Young was a rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and backing vocalist in the band. Except for a brief absence in 1988, Young was a member of AC/DC from its formation in 1973 until his retirement in 2014. As a member of AC/DC, Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2023, Rolling Stone named Young and his younger brother and fellow AC/DC member Angus Young the 38th-best guitarists of all time.

Malcolm Mitchell Young was born on 6 January 1953 in Glasgow, Scotland. Young's father, William Young (1911–1985), lived with his family at 6 Skerryvore Road in the Cranhill district of Glasgow. William Young worked as a machine and saw operator in an asbestos and cement business; served in World War II as a flight engine mechanic in the Royal Air Force; and later worked as a yard man and as a postman. He married Margaret (1913–1988; maiden name also Young), who was a housewife.

The "big freeze" of 1963 was one of the worst winters on record in Scotland, with snow 8 feet (2.4 m) deep. A TV advertisement shown in Scotland at that time offered assisted travel for families to start a new life in Australia. Fifteen members of the Young family left Scotland in late June 1963, including fifth son George (1946–2017) and younger brothers Malcolm and Angus (b. 1955). Another elder brother, Alex (1938–1997), who was a member of Tony Sheridan's backup group The Bobby Patrick Big Six, stayed in Europe and was later a member of London-based group Grapefruit.: 6–7

Malcolm Young later detailed the family's musical background as follows: "All the males in our family played, Stevie, the oldest played accordion, Alex and John were the first couple to play guitar, and being older it was sort of passed down to George, then myself, then Angus.": 6–7

Initially staying at Villawood Migrant Hostel (a site later turned into Villawood Immigration Detention Centre) in Nissen huts, George Young met and became friends with another migrant, Harry Vanda. The Young family then moved into a semi-detached house at 4 Burleigh Street in the Sydney suburb of Burwood.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.